CHARLIE MULGREW walked out of the Aviva Stadium in Dublin crippled with cramp and shattered after a gruelling 90 minutes.

But the Celtic and Scotland star left Ireland ECSTATIC that he’d got through unscathed in the crucial Euro 2016 tie against the Republic.

And with his injury problems now behind him, the Parkhead utility man is raring to go ahead of another huge campaign for club and country.

Mulgrew was a pivotal player for both Hoops gaffer Ronny Deila and Scotland coach Gordon Strachan before a knee problem at the turn of the year effectively killed his season.

He missed five-and-a-half months of the campaign as Celtic wrapped up a domestic double and Scotland continued to progress in Group D.

The 29-year-old returned to the fold in mid-May and was thrown in from the start against the Irish at the Aviva last month.

He didn’t let Strachan down but admits he felt the effects of it afterwards.

Charlie was delighted to last 90 minutes for Scotland against Ireland (Image: PA Wire)

Now fully fit and back in pre-season training at Lennoxtown, Mulgrew said: “I cramped up after about 70 minutes against Ireland.

“I was thinking, ‘There’s 20 to go here, I might need to come off because we desperately need a result’. But I went up for a corner and on the way back I never felt anything so I thought I’d be okay.

“It was important I did another 90 minutes after doing the same against Qatar in the friendly.

“I didn’t want to come off in Dublin, especially with cramp.

“As a centre-half you don’t exactly do a lot of running so you don’t want that to happen.

“Thankfully I managed to get through the episode and was absolutely delighted.

“I was knackered at the end – stiff for about four days after it.

“Especially because of the type of game it was.

“It was like Gaelic football at times the way the ball was being launched up the park a lot of the time.

“It was a real battle but I enjoyed it. The centre-backs were involved in the game a lot and we got a decent result.

“After missing five months and being so keen to get back, I’m happy just to be available for games again.

“I feel pretty fresh because I was out for so long.

“Just to be back training instead of going to the gym, the pool or watching the boys is great.”

Mulgrew is grateful after his rehab that old-school pre-season shifts are no longer what they used to be under Deila.

With most of the Norwegian’s squad having little time off over the summer, there has been no rigorous regime from the manager.

Instead, Celtic are already playing games ahead of their critical Champions League qualifier against Stjarnan on July 15.

And after taking part in a few of Strachan’s pre-seasons while he was Hoops gaffer, Mulgrew is pleased the current squad don’t have to go through it.

Charlie returned to action for Celts against St Johnstone in May (Image: SNS Group)

He said: “I’ve only really had two or three weeks off and most of the boys would have been the same.

“So there’s no old school running exercises or sand dunes any more. We’ve had the footballs out from day one. We’re still working hard but everyone is happy with the training and it’s good that we have games to play in.

“I never ran up sand dunes myself but I was on the track a few times under Gordon when he was here.

“That was probably the hardest pre-season I’ve ever done.

“But back then the players had seven weeks off, sometimes eight. You needed it.

“I remember doing 800m and 1200m runs. Then we had the Cooper Run – which is as many laps as you possibly can in 12 minutes.

“And that was on the first day of training. It was torture.

“You had to do at least eight and I remember Paul Telfer setting the standard with nine.

“Big Bobo Balde took off like a shot and everyone thought he’d do about 20 laps. But I think he ended up with just seven.

“We probably needed that back then but it’s an 11-month season for players now, with international games and the Champions League qualifiers.

“It’s just about ticking over.”

And this season Mulgrew will have his work cut out to get back in Deila’s starting 11 after the Hoops finished the campaign strongly.

He’d previously formed a productive partnership with skipper Scott Brown in central midfield but in his absence Nir Bitton excelled.

Arguably the big Israeli was Celtic’s best player in the second half of the season.

Mulgrew can also play at the back but with Virgil van Dijk still at Parkhead and new boy Dedryck Boyata a likely starter, he has a fight on his hands.

But the man himself insists it’s one he’ll relish.

He said: “The team did brilliantly when I was out and it was hard to watch because I wanted to be helping them.

“We were really unfortunate not to reach the Scottish Cup Final and potentially get a treble.

“Watching from the side was something I had to get my head round and I tried to be as positive as I possibly could.

“I know it will be hard to break up the Brown-Bitton partnership but every manager wants competition for places.

“That will bring the best out in me and if I need to fight for that position I will. It will bring the best out in Broonie and Nir as well.

“That’s what it’s all about. In the long run it will only be good for Celtic.

“Nir has been class since he came in. We could always see his ability in training but he needed a run of games to find his feet.

“Now he’s shown how good he is and it’s great for Celtic.

“He’s calm and composed under pressure and he’ll be an important player for us this season.

“But I’m sure every player in the squad will have a part to play.

“It will give the manager a headache, having a lot of players for all positions.

“He’ll find it hard to pick a team.

“But last season everybody was needed at some stage because of the amount of injuries and games we had to play.

“We had around 60-odd matches, so over the course we’ll all have to make an impact when we are called on by the manager.

“It’s important everyone is ready and the manager has made us aware of that.”